Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 198 Macau Tour

Guo Yi and the others decided that since they had established a firm foothold in Guangzhou, it would not be too late to exchange the loot in Lingao's inventory for cash. Found a huge way out.

The Executive Committee agreed to this new pioneering action. Considering that entering Macau by land requires a customs clearance, and the relationship between the Ming government and Portugal and Macau had begun to deteriorate at that time, in order to avoid unnecessary troubles, it was decided to adopt the simplest method and enter by sea. Macau port.

The Portuguese regard Macau as the pearl of East Asian trade, and are extremely wary of foreigners, but they welcome all Chinese traders, which is a favorable condition for entering Macau.The Executive Committee also expects to set up a commercial firm in Macau, if possible, so as to export directly to overseas without going through Guangzhou.

Macau in 1629 was the most prosperous era in the history of Macau trade. The Grand Triangle trade centered on Macau was the most lucrative route in international trade at that time. Naturally, those who traveled through it also had attempts to get involved.

The Guangzhou dispatch station has obtained a 40-ton single-masted ship allocated by the executive committee to the dispatch station. The ship was seized from Baitu and purchased locally in Hainan, so that the executive committee has already mastered a considerable Large-scale fleet - the sailors on board were recruited locally from Guangzhou, and they are more familiar with the hydrological conditions of the Pearl River Estuary.

But both Guo Yi and Ma Qianju believed that this trip to Macau was the first time to explore the way, and it was best not to involve the newly hired locals.So a 70-ton brig "Tongji" was still dispatched from Lingao. The Guangzhou dispatch station had a limited number of people, and only one Zhang Xin actually went there—he used to work in a small shipyard by the Dongting Lake and wanted to go there. Take a look at Macau's shipbuilding and ship repair capabilities, and observe the condition of Portuguese ships in Macau.

The rest of the personnel were drawn from Lingao's time-traveling crowd.As soon as the news came out, many people with nothing to do wanted to go to Macau to broaden their horizons—in fact, most of them wanted to go abroad.As for the reasons for requesting participation, there are also various reasons. Naturally, reasons for going abroad such as business inspections in this time and space cannot pass the review of the Executive Committee, but everyone has their own tricks: for example, the Ministry of Industry proposed to inspect European countries. The level of industrial technology; the Ministry of Agriculture said that it needs to know whether there are agricultural products imported from Europe and America; the financial department proposed to conduct some investigations on foreign currency systems, and Bai Duolu of Wenyinshe’s reason is even more shocking-" I am a Catholic, and going to Macau will help me to communicate with the local Portuguese”... In the end, the delegation actually expanded to more than 30 people, and originally only needed a dozen people including the sailors.Those who got the approval were naturally overjoyed, stuffed all kinds of modern gadgets in their bags, and prepared to go to Macau to do the same thing that European sailors used glass beads to seduce native women in Africa and America.There were many complaints about not getting the "Macau Tour" quota, and the heads of the department naturally wanted to appease and make a wish.There is no need to mention the turmoil one by one.

The business delegation to Macau was led by Wen Desi, accompanied by Diana Mendoza as an interpreter——Zhou Weisen also followed him under the pretext of taking care of his family members. It would be difficult to handle if the big wild horse lost himself in front of foreigners up.

Tongji loaded various cargo samples in Guangzhou, and then connected Zhang Xin to the ship.Old shopkeeper Shen heard that Mr. Zhang's family was going to Macau, and originally planned to introduce a general to go with him, but Guo Yi was deeply afraid that his strange-looking group would be found out, so he didn't agree.Shen Fan wrote a letter, introducing that he had a client who opened a silk and satin shop in Macau and was proficient in Panyi language.If you need anything, you can go to him for help.

Macau is very close to Guangzhou. Strictly speaking, both Macau and Hong Kong can be regarded as the outer ports of Guangzhou.Its jurisdiction belongs to Xiangshan County.The travelers on each ship can almost recite the history of the Portuguese settlement in Macau. Some of them have visited there in this time and space. Everyone is very interested in what Macau looks like in this time and space.

When the boat left the Pearl River Estuary and entered the open sea, Mond discovered Macau.Everyone looked into the distance and saw that it was a Lulian Island in the sea.The island is connected to the mainland by a long and narrow piece of land, shaped like a lotus flower.The area of ​​Macau is very small, and modern Macau is only 16 square kilometers. At this time, Macau had not yet expanded its territory, but it was "building a city against mountains and covering four or five miles".

On the stem of the lotus, there is a city gate building, which is the gate.To go to Macau by land, you must pass through this gate. In theory, if you go through the gate, you have crossed the border.In fact, the governments of the Ming and Qing dynasties both had judicial and administrative jurisdiction over Macau, but the Portuguese in Macau had been practicing self-government for a long time, and the Chinese government rarely interfered.It was not until 1842 that Macao really broke away from the jurisdiction of the Chinese government.

Macau has two bays, inner and outer, and Mond and others steered the boat towards the inner bay.Looking from the boat, the whole of Macau has been vividly seen.It has been almost half a century since the Portuguese officially obtained permission to live here in 1583. With the support of high trade profits, urban construction has taken shape.The tall western-style city walls surround the city, and the forts at various points are very conspicuous-the British and the Dutch have repeatedly tried to seize Macau, and the Portuguese and Macau authorities are very concerned about the city's fortification. Before 1623, all the main forts in Macau had been completed.

Apparently the Portuguese and Macao authorities didn’t pay attention to the Chinese ships. They entered and exited the bay freely and were not obstructed for inspection. “Tongji” easily entered the port in the inner bay. There were several Portuguese ships moored in the entire inner bay. There were two large ships that entered The mast of Yun left a deep impression on everyone. According to Wen Desi's estimate, the ship weighed more than 1500 tons, which was quite spectacular among wooden ships.This should be the big ship used by Portuguese merchants to run the triangular trade route.As for all kinds of small and medium-sized wooden boats in China, there are countless in the bay.Most of them are merchant ships that trafficked goods from Fujian, Guangdong.

Bai Duolu, who used Catholicism as an excuse to sneak into the delegation, went ashore with everyone. I don't know how the foreign woman brought by Mr. Wen negotiated with the Portuguese. Everyone went ashore smoothly.Bai Duoluo's English is not bad, but at this moment, English is as invalid as Chinese.Everyone was walking on the streets of this tiny place, their ears were full of birds chirping, and they felt a little dazed in their hearts.

The urban layout of Macau is completely different from that of traditional Chinese cities, but it has the flavor of a small Spanish town, with neat and orderly streets.The whole city is not big, with a cross street as the core of the urban area.A tall cross at the intersection of Cross Street.Most of the buildings along the street are small Iberian-style buildings, and the ground floor is a porch.The walls were painted white.The windows along the street are visible from the street with their shutters closed.Someone then thought of playing the guitar under the window.Miss Mendoza told Mr. Wen in English that this place was very similar to some small inland cities in Venezuela. Mr. Wen thought it was not surprising—both were typical Iberian colonial cities.

As for the pedestrians on the street, they have the taste of a colonial city: Portuguese, Chinese, blacks, and mixed-race people of the period naturally have everything, and there are many Japanese, mostly wearing the livery of Portuguese servants, running back and forth --The Portuguese, Spaniards, and Dutch employed Japanese as servants, artisans, sailors, and soldiers throughout East and Southeast Asia.There are also some dark-skinned characters with curly hair, who look similar to Ah San.There are also many wretched and wretched Southeast Asian natives.The streets were bustling and lively: nobles riding horses, sitting in sedan chairs carried by two people, noble ladies wearing veils and sarahs, followed by black slaves holding umbrellas.Even in the colonies thousands of miles away from the motherland, the original style is still maintained.As for sailors of various skin colors, ragged clothes are naturally also a scene on the street. They are all drunk and staggering on the street.At the door of those big families, servants in liveries and canes were sitting, and when they saw a drunk guy trying to intrude, he gave him a slap in the face.

At this time, the population of Macau has also increased a lot. The Portuguese resident population, including their black slaves, is about 1000 people. There are also local Chinese who are not included in the statistics, and India who stays for a short time due to trade or as sailors. There are also many Chinese and Malays.

Everyone strolled along the street and looked around, but they didn't find the legendary "tavern" with the hostess of the ocean horse.So Bai Duolu proposed to see what the famous Dasanba Church looked like before it burned down, and everyone agreed.When I touched the original site based on my general impression, I realized that there was a lot of construction going on here-it turned out that the Dasanba Church, that is, St. Paul's Church, was still under construction. The ground was full of stones and wood, but the craftsmen were all Japanese.I found a person who can speak Japanese to inquire about it. It turned out that the church started construction in 1612. Everyone thought that the efficiency was a bit low——after 17 years of construction, the church was still in a state of disrepair. What have these Japanese people been doing for 17 years?

Bai Duolu took advantage of his Catholic status, and quickly inquired some useful information from the Japanese—most of these people were Chechitan, and working here was not only earning a living, but also devotion.The Japanese were very enthusiastic about Bai Duolu, a Chinese Catholic. After reading a few words from the Bible together in stammering Latin, the Japanese craftsmen talked a lot about the local situation.

The big triangle trade that once made Macau prosperous for a while has been cut off all the way.According to the Japanese, because in 1608, the ships of the Arima Domain clashed fiercely with the Portuguese when they passed through Macau. Andre Pessoa, who was the governor of Macau at that time, suppressed the rioting crew members on the Japanese ships and killed them. Many people were killed, and the leader was executed, and the lives of 15 captives were spared only under the intercession of the bishop of Macau.

When Andre Pessoa went to Japan for trade in 1610, he was severely retaliated by the Arima Domain.The regular ship was besieged by 4000 people, and finally in desperation Andrea Pessoa ignited the powder magazine on board.The trade between the Portuguese and Japan was interrupted at this point.

(End of this chapter)